Amare Stoudemire of the New York Knicks and Andrew Bogut of the Milwaukee Bucks have a history, and Stoudemire thinks Tuesday night the Bucks had it in for him because of it.
The game nearly got out of hand when Stoudemire was whistled for a technical foul for taunting Bogut, who is still not fully recovered from suffering a gruesome arm injury last April 3 against Phoenix. On that night, Stoudemire barely shoved Bogut in the back as the Milwaukee center was going up for a breakaway dunk. But that slight push caused Bogut to lose his balance and crash awkwardly on the court, suffering a broken elbow and wrist.
Stoudemire left a voice mail to express his regret for the play and Bogut, who disputed Stoudemire's claim that they spoke, absolved him of any blame.
And yet, when Stoudemire was asked Tuesday night if he felt Bogut's physical play was payback for last year, the Knicks forward said: "Possibly." As for being hit by two elbows, Stoudemire claimed, "It was intentional."
"I think they might have amped (Bogut) up to play very physical out there," Stoudemire said. "That might have been the way he reacted on the court. But that's okay, no worries."
Asked if he felt [Bucks coach Scott] Skiles instructed Bogut to retaliate, Stoudemire said: "I wouldn't say coach Skiles intentionally told him to play physical. But again, it's a team effort so I'm going after the whole team."
It will be interesting to see if the league has anything to see about this.